A trip down perverted lane
by ChocolateDragon15
Summary: Miroku's Reincarnation finds a way to get into the well {completed!}
1. Lost Locket

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*Disclaimer*: Don't sue me, I have no money. I can give you lint, but other than that, don't hold your breath.

Chapter~1 

Kagome stared intently out of the window at the trees outside. She listened as the rain fell intensely on the roof, gutter, and the window pane of the school. She was having trouble concentrating on her math exam. She hadn't been to the past in over a month. It wasn't as if it was by choice. Once she got back to her present-time from her last visit to the past, she realized that she was really behind in her school work. In order to pass her classes, she needed ti stay and make-up her work. Kagome had become so attached to the past that she couldn't stop thinking about it. 

No, she wouldn't think about it. Just this last test. After this and homework she'd be in the past with houshi-sama, Sango-san, Shippo-san, and Inuyasha (whom she would miss most of all). Just a few more problems. Kagome scribbled a barely legible phrase onto her exam. One more to go. She put her hand in her backpack a clasped over a shard. Most of the shards were tucked away in an "Aleeve" bottle inside a "Sailor Moon" pencil box with pencils o the top, inside a "Card Captor" lunch box in the back of an underwear drawer. But despite the danger she kept one shard for good luck. It was locked in a locket on a gold chain. Done. Finally. Kagome stood up on shaky legs from sitting so long. With her test paper in one hand and her locket in the other she walked up to the teacher's desk and placed her test down on the pile of test papers and walked back to her desk. Just then the bell rang. Without looking she tried dropping her locket into her backpack. Unfortunately the gold- chain locket fell to the floor.

Mariko Ashido sat behind Kagome. She had been friends with Kagome since the first day of junior-high. They weren't close, but they were good friends. She was 15, and had black hair down to her bosom, soft velvet eyes, an dressed in similar attire as Kagome. There was something about Mariko that Kagome couldn't put a finger on it. *back to where we were* Mariko notices Kagome's locket and decides to return it to the Higurashi's shrine. 


	2. A reincarnation of who?

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*disclaimer* same as chapter . I am poor….. Nuff said. Lol hey you guys this is Mel, the author's sister. I also have an Inu Yasha story called, "InuYashaSecrets" but I am gonna change the name soon to "InuYasha Secrets" . I had to copy this story down onto the computer for her. I made a couple small grammer changes but this story initially belongs to me sister the writer. Ok, now back to the story and dotn forget to check out my story! 

Chapter~2 

Kagome stood hovering around the well. After a half an hour of debating on whether or not to go through it before finishing her homework. She chose to take it with her to the past. With one last glance, she jumped in.

Mariko had just reached the Higurashi's shrine after walking 5 blocks. She rang he doorbell, then soon realized no one was home. As she turned to leave, she remembered the shrine. She seemed to be drawn to it. She'd been here before, but she seemed like she had known of it for a longer time…. Longer than her 15 years on Earth. When she broke out of her trance she stood beside the well. She heard voices. After looking around the room to find where the voices were coming from when she noticed they were coming from the well. 

"Inu Yasha, I'm just having a late lunch with him. I'm hungry and Koga's my friends, that's it!" Mariko heard Kagome's voice from the well. She sounded irrated, as if the conversation had been going on for a long time.

"Kagome's voice is coming from the well?" Before Mariko could panic, a thought came to her, 'what if there was a ladder on the inside of the well?' she looked over and could hear the voices clearer. 

"Does he know your 'just friends'?" Inu Yasha barked back.

"I cant see the ladder, maybe they're down further." Mariko suggested to keep herself calm. 

"Fine Inu Yasha. Ill take Shippo with me, if that will make you feel better." Mariko climbed inside and let go of the side of the well. 

Inu Yasha took of into the sky looking for any youkai willing to fight so that he could blow off some steam from his last argument with Kagome. She had been gone for a month and a half, as soon as she comes back, that baka wolf demon takes her away for a late lunch.

"He'd better not try anything!" Inu Yasha snarled.

Mariko closed her eyes half-expecting to land on a hard surface. She smelt grass and heard birds, as if she were in a open meadow. She opened her eyes find herself lying in the well, with a bright light at the opening of the well. She stood up and climbed out. "Where's the shrine?" After getting her bearings, she walked toward a few trees, and even though she didn't know she was in the feudal era, some part of her recognized a path to Kaede's village. She entered a trance-like state and used the path as a guide.

Once the trance was broken, Mariko stood in the doorway of Kaede's hut. 

"Back so soon child, did you remember the herbs I asked for?" Kaede asked, and then turned around at the baffled teenager. The girl's aura seemed so familiar and friendly, as if she'd known her. Yet Kaede couldn't recall ever meting her. 

"Sorry, I was looking for a friend, I fell in a well, and wound up here. I'm Mariko Ashido." Mariko blurted out. For the first time Kaede noticed the girls clothes.

"Do you know Kagome?" Mariko's face brighten, "Yes, she dropped her locket at school. Do you know where she is?" 

"She hasn't passed here yet." Kaede responded after looking her over, "Have we met?"

"No, I don't think so." The girl responded Whatever connection the girl had to the past, Kaede could find out In meditation. But Kaede needed a way to keep her near by just in case. Just the Inu Yasha landed gracefully on Kaede doorstep. Hopefully he'd be in the mood to watch her. The chances were slim, but she had to try and get to him, "Inu Yasha, this is Kagome's friend Mariko, can you show her around while I meditate, please?"

Inu Yasha thought about it for a moment, "Kagome's friend huh? Fine!" He grumbled. Mariko's eyes lighted up, "Hello, who are you?" she said playfully. She went into a flirtish mode. She wrapped her hand around his and they were off. 

Kaede sat cross-legged and started her mediation. "Who have I seen that is that flirtatious?" 

"… and that takes us back to Kaede's hut" Inu Yasha concluded the tour. If she hadn't been a friend o Kagome, he would've declined, but he could've gotten what Kagome referred to as 'brownie points' (whatever those were) for helping he friend.

While he was still in deep thought Mariko stood on her tip toes, got in a sneak kiss, and grabbed Inu Yasha's butt. Inu Yasha roared and stepped back several feet, "What are you doing woman?"

Kaede had awaken from her meditation, in time to see the commotion outside her window. Of course, that's it! Why hadn't she thought about that. Quickly, Kaede reached the door and pulled Mariko inside and shut the door before the young hanyou could pounce. He hit the ground, cursing and spitting dirt. He took flight, and decided to find Kagome. 

" The 'late lunch' should be over by now." He growled. 

" I figured out why you seem so familiar to me." Kaede stated, "You're a reincarnation."

"A reincarnation? Of who?" Mariko asked.

"Of a houshi. Maybe you'll meet him."

"Him? I was a guy in my past life?" Just then a villager came in, "Kaede-sama, this just came for you." 

"Thank you." she said as she read it.

"Guess who's on their way here?" Kaede asked after reading the letter.

"Who?" Mariko asked.


	3. forbiden kiss

Disclaimer: Insert: "Whats love got to do with it" change "love" to "money". Idiotic, I know, but who actually reads this. I don't own Inuyasha, even though I wish I did. That's why this is called a "Fanfic" people. If you don't know that, then you've got problems don't you.

Chapter 3 ~

After eating grilled fish, Kagome and Koga polished off with rich puddings while they caught up together.

" Thanks for the late lunch, I was really hungry. And talking to you is always nice too." Kagome stated.

"No problem." Koga stated quietly. He was content that they could spend time together… alone. Right now there was no pesky mutt in the way, and even the she brought the kitsune child she was always with, he was asleep within minutes of eating 4 fish.

While Kagome entered a deep pensive state, Koga watched her. His eyes traced up and down her curvaceous figure to her shapely bosom. She had everything he was looking for in a mate, she was beautiful, intelligent, if sometime they were to be mates in the future, their pups would have the best of both worlds. With their demon blood they would be revered. The pups' human half, they would be compassionate, loving, forgiving, everything he loved about Kagome. There was just two problems with this picture: 1) that stupid mutt she's always with and 2) She spent half of her time in her time, back I the 20th century, or whatever century she had called it.

Suddenly, an evil grin was plastered onto Koga's face," Hug?" he asked. It was loud enough to get Kagome back to the real world. Kagome leaned forward and prepared to be embraced by Koga. They suddenly ended up in a lip lock.

" What are you doing?" Inuyasha barked as he'd finally landed. Kagome recoiled and the kiss was broken, leaving Kagome blushing and Koga in a fighting stance.

Meanwhile at Kaede's hut~

"Come on, I have to meet-" Kaede debated over whether or not to tell the teenager. After a moment she decided to surprise her," A good friend of mine. We're supposed to meet at the bottom of Mount Fiji." They set off on their way.

"Is anyone going to answer me?" Inuyasha roared. Part of Kagome was touched that he cared so much. Another part of her wanted to scream. He rarely said anything nice to her. And when he did he almost always took it back. Now here he was, demanding to know what had been going on. Kagome balled her fists. He didn't even wait to see how she reacted. She only thought of Koga as a friend, that's it! 

"Do you think they got the letter?" Sango asked as she and Miroku neared the bottom of the mountain.

"Have faith, Sango. Kaede will be here." Miroku responded simply.

Kaede and Mariko were waiting at their spot at the base of the mount Fiji. They spotted two people making their way down.

Mariko was up to her old habits again. She hardly noticed the girl. All of her attention was focused on a guy who wore a monks robe and beads around one of his hands. Mariko's mind started to working like clockwork, '_ So I couldn't get that guy back at the village to accept my advances. Most guys do, and at least this guy on the mountain doesn't seem like he'd try to kill me in my sleep.'_

"He's cute, who is he?" Mariko asked. Miroku and Sango had reached Kaede. Before anyone could be introduced, Mariko had pinched Miroku's butt. Miroku yelped, and jumped several feet back.

"Miroku, this is your reincarnation from Kagome's time, Mariko-san." Kaede got Miroku and Sango up to speed.

Before Miroku had a chance to respond, Sango jumped a foot closer wagging her finger in his face. "Ha, that's your punishment for being such a lecherous monk. Your future self's a woman. Now you can wreak havoc on men!" 

Kagome's blood was boiling, "Koga and I are just friends and I are just friends!" 

" That kiss was just a little too friendly!" Inuyasha barked back eyeing Koga suspiciously.

"You didn't even wait to see how I reacted to it." a burst of fury burned through her as she continued to ball her fists," How dare you?! The kiss just happened!" Tears welled up in her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall. Her face went from a light strawberry color, to a dark red of passion. All she wanted to do is scream.

While Koga and Inuyasha argued (Which would probably end in a fight) she would take a walk through the woods to wash-up, clear her head, and come back in a better mood. Without Inuyasha or Koga knowing it, she scooped up a sluggish kitsune and took off.

It was too late to head back to Kaede's house, so they set up came a mile from the mountain. The sky had darkened, and after a day of surprising events, Mariko and Kaede were asleep. Miroku still couldn't believe it. She looked so much like him, and after spending a few hours getting to know his younger, female counterpart, he realized that they acted very much alike.

Just then Sango walked up quietly and quite certain. She was dubious to the fact that him finding out about his reincarnation would affect him so hard. All he could do now is think about his own mortality. '_Will I die before killing Naraku, will he kill me, or did I survive the curse and die an old man?'_

Just then Sango appeared out of the trees, "Sorry about what I said earlier." she tried to lighten the subject, " Spend time with your double for a few hours and you'll see what women put up with you." she added with a chuckle.

" I don't think, she, I, she'll hit on me now that she knows I will be her, or she was once me…" after thinking for a moment, " That we are one in the same."

"I was just joking." Sango realized she had struck a nerve, so she changed the subject, " Where do you think Kagome is?" 

"She did say it would take some time to catch back up in 'school' again. Sleep now, in the morning we'll try to find Inuyasha and send Mariko back to the future." Miroku stated.

" Don't you want to spend time with your self- er Mariko?" Sango asked.

" Of course I do, but the past is not safe, she needs to go on with her own time." Miroku responded.

" But Kagome's with us all the time, and she's from Mariko's time." Sango stated.

"True, but it is Kagome's destiny to help put the shards back together, not Mariko." Miroku said softly.

" What do you think Shippo? Do you think this place is a good enough to camp for the night?" Kagome had asked the kitsune. He didn't know what, but he knew something had happened to Kagome and Koga while he was asleep. It was something that made Inuyasha angry (which could be anything). But Kagome had chosen to be on Koga's side of the argument and then left breathing hard and mumbling under her breath. She was now relaxed and happy, but she refused to mention what was going on. 

Before he had a chance to answer a voice came from the shadows, " Kagome is it? What are you doing out here… and so all alone?" 


	4. Inuyasha's worst fear

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Trust me, if I did, you'd know about it. Insert: "money, money, money" song. 

Chapter 4~ 

Inuyasha crouched silently in a tree. He'd been in that position for hours evaluating his relationship with Kagome. He didn't shun her attempts to be close to him by choice, it was the fact that any female who got too close ended up dead. After his mother and Kikyo died he'd promised himself that it would never happen again. 

Although it was hard for him to admit it to him to himself, he had grown very fond of Kagome, and soon found himself anxiously awaiting her return. And when it came time for her to go, he's dig his nails into the sides of the well while he was on top of it. After hours of Kagome coaxing, and reassuring him (not to mention a few sits) he would reluctantly and slowly hop off. It had seemed like fate wanted to be alone, forever. How could he get her to understand? Seeing her kissing Koga was enough to make his heart bleed with sorrow and envy.

He shook his head, '_No, I shouldn't entertain ideas of Kagome and me having a romantic future together. I wont. It is better for both of us this way. Besides Kagome is from the future. Where there were plenty of _ *ugh* _men who could provide her with the lifestyle she will some day want and deserved. ' _He decided to start catching fish for dinner instead of having somber thoughts about his relationship with Kagome.

The shadowed figure took a step forward and was still concealed by darkness. Kagome reached for her bow and arrows while Shippo placed a leaf on his head, said an enchantment, and transformed into a tree stump. A centipede emerged from the shadows. Out of its mouth were energy beams aimed at Kagome. She dodged left, then right. She decided to take a shot.

_' If I make it, Shippo and I will be safe for the night, if I don't… No I can't afford to miss.'_

She placed the arrow into the bow; she pulled back, aimed and released the arrow. It had hit the centipede in the heart. Neither Kagome, nor Shippo noticed the fang-toothed demon hiding behind the trees. '_Soon, my sweet girl. Soon. That centipede will tire you out and then I will get to play with you…soon.' _

Kagome collapsed against a tree. She scanned the area for any other demons, _'something's not right.'_ Just as she was about to call on her young, kitsune companion, the fang-toothed demon came up behind her and bit into her neck.

What was it about the hentai this evening that made Sango go weak in the knees? In all the time she had known him, this was a side of him she had never seen before. He seemed to acting genuine, for once.

At that moment they heard a girl scream piercingly. Without hesitating, they grabbed their weapons and ran in the direction the scream came in.

Once they arrived, they looked for signs of struggle, a demon, anything that would lead them to what happened. Blood seemed to be painted onto the grass and dirt. Then they saw it, the fanged-demon with its fangs in Kagome's neck, her eyes looked vacant and her voice was barely above a whisper. She seemed to be pleading with it.

"Please, please." She seemed fatigued as she struggled and shifted to free herself. When that didn't work, she moved to make herself a little more comfortable. Her bow and arrows had been knocked to the ground, although she stretched out her hand it was just out of her reach. 

Sango used her poison powder _(sorry, I'm going by the video game here.), _while Miroku used ashen salt _(Video game again.) _and once Sango got Kagome out of the way, Miroku used his Kazanna (wind tunnel) on the demon. With a high-pitched screech, it was gone.

Back at the camp, Mariko awoke to a high-pitched screech. She got up and walked surreptitiously, so that she wouldn't wake Kaede_. ' Where did Sango and Miroku go? What made that high pitched screeched noise?' _ She didn't know what to think as she ran through the woods. 

Shippo popped out of his transformation," There was a centipede, but Kagome took care of it. Then the fanged-tooth demon appeared out of nowhere. It took us by surprise." 

Kagome lay in Sango's lap," We need to cover her wound soon, before…" 

Mariko had just reached the clearing; her eyes were terror stricken fell on Kagome. Apparently, she had seen the trail of blood. Her eyes traveled to Shippo, "What, what is that thing?!" Her eyes darted wildly from a blood-spattered Kagome, to the infantile kitsune, "Did it do that to… -to Kagome?"

Shippo looked the adolescent over. Apparently she didn't know he could talk. "No, not me. But the thing that did is gone." He took a step closer.

"Don't come any closer!" Mariko screamed.

" Don't worry, Shippo wouldn't harm any one." Miroku's voice was softhearted and reassuring. Almost like silk. 

" What did this?" Mariko asked as she took eloquent steps toward Kagome. " Never mind, will Kagome be ok?" Her words faltered. She knew she didn't want to know. At least that way she could keep up the illusion that this was some elaborate dream, even though she knew deep inside of her, somehow with out Miroku and Sango saying anything that it all made perfect sense. 

Miroku ripped a long, narrow, piece of clean cloth from his robe and tied it around Kagome's neck. "She's lost a lot of blood, but she'll survive."

Let's get her back to camp." Sango said gently as she gingerly touched around the wound.

Miroku scooped Kagome into his arms," Shippo where is Inuyasha?"

"He and Kagome got into another fight. Something about Koga." Shippo retorted.

"As soon as we reach camp, we must go to sleep. Once Inuyasha calms down, he'll go to the well to look for Kagome. When he notices she didn't travel that way, he'll head to Kaede's hut. We'll head to Kaede's hut by day break."

Kagome awoke to see people bustling around her picking up their belongings. She'd realized she was lying on a cot. For the first time since she woke up, she felt something wet, thick and sticky that smelt sort of like copper. She touched her neck and instantly felt excruciating, convulsing pain. She brought her hand up to her face to see blood.

"Good, your up," Mariko said as she hugged her friend. Miroku turned around, "I'll need to redress your wound, and then we'll be off to Kaede's hut." An hour later, they left for Kaede's.

Two hours later, Inuyasha walked languidly through the forest when a rusty, viscous smell filled his nostrils, making him a bit nauseous. He stopped and sniffed, _'I've smelt this blood before.' _After a minute it came to him, " No, Kagome!"

There was no mistaking it, he couldn't explain it, but she had a very distinctive smell to her that both excited him, and made him feel content, as if there was no such thing as evil in the world. He walked to where the smell was coming from. The ground seemed to have been showered in blood. Kagome's blood. 

Then he picked up Miroku, Sango, and Shippo's scent. There was another scent there, after a few minutes he figured it was Mariko. There were also two other demons that traveled here, from their scents about the time Kagome was here. Why didn't Miroku and Sango protect her? What had happen? 

Inuyasha's worst fear was soon realized. Kagome was dead.

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A/N: sorry if this is getting to be a romantic story. I'm a romantic at heart and my stories tend to end up like that. I would have posted earlier, but my computer decided to be retarded. That's my department (lol!)


	5. Inuasha's dead rest of chapter uploaded

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A/N: Sorry you guys, my computer was being a retard and it didn't post the whole chapter. I forgot to check it I'm sorry. Well here's the long awaited complete chapter. I'm updating the next chapter very soon so look for it. It should be there an hour or so after this one gets posted, for the most 2 or 3 hours. Shouldn't be that long. 

Chapter 5

Due to a tropical storm, it took longer to get to Kaede's hut than usual. Kagome had awaken again after passing out. She found herself in a warm cave, with a sleeping Shippo next to her. Kaede had her back turned towards Kagome. She was mixing herbs together, while enjoying the warmth of the fire. Kagome remembered seeing Sango and Miroku, then faintly remembered someone else. 'Wait a minute, did Miroku put on a skirt and hug me? I must have been dreaming!' Kagome reasoned. 'Speaking of Miroku and Sango, where are those two?'

"Lake? No, no, no, this is a hot spring. It's either you bathe here, or stay just as you are." Sango wasn't sure if she wanted to share the hot spring with Mariko. It wasn't that Mariko was an indecorous person. She was the sweetest, most polite person Sango had ever met besides Kagome. It was the fact that used to be that corrupt houshi. 'No,' she shook her head, 'He wasn't that bad. If he wasn't such a pervert he'd be the perfect guy for me.' she gasped at this realization. She had never thought of the priest in that way before. That realization both comforted and scared her at the same time.

By the time Sango snapped out of her own little world, Mariko had removed her clothes and was soaking in the hot spring. Just as Sango was about to untie her kimono when a rock tumbled to her feet.

Heavy rains and massive wind speeds mixed all of the scents together. It had nearly knocked Inuyasha off of his feet. "No!!!! I pushed her away from me and she still was killed!!!" he roared towards the sky. "Don't worry Kagome, I'll get the demon who did this to you!" Inuyasha took off into the sky.

No one moved at the hot spring for several long seconds. Hours seemed to pass by, where all they could do is listen to their own breathing and watch. Sango had thought for an instant that it was Miroku, but the chill that followed that thought told her this was not he. This was a demon. Then suddenly she saw it. Not the demon exactly, but an ear. 'I've seen that ear before. Where have I…' And than it came to her.

"Inuyasha come on out, I see you!" she narrowed her eyes and readied her boomerang. The demon pounced toward Sango and Mariko. Sango used poison powder and it was hit. "I don't want to hurt you Inuyasha," she yelled as the demon retreated among the shadows. The second time it appeared it had caught her of guard. Sango ended up on eh ground with the demon. She kicked it off of her and got up quickly, "Fine, I'm ready for round three."

Kagome had slipped away without calling attention to her and was now exploring the cave. The running water was such an alluring call for her since she had not had a bath in a day or so, or however long she had been unconscious that she had to follow the sound. 'A quick bath. That will raise my spirits.'

As Kagome drew closer she heard faint fighting. 'Oh no, not now.' She came closer she could make out the voices, but was unable to understand what they were still saying. " Put on your clothes…" Sango seemed to be growing impatient with some one. 'No, not Sango and Miroku. This is just too weird.' "Get out of here … killed!" Sango yelled. Kagome sighed with relief, 'It's not what I think, good.' 

Kagome rounded the corner just in time to see it. Sango was beaten and her face was red with anger, irritability and exhaustion. She would drop her defenses to watch over and protect a certain group of bushes; it was long enough for the demon to get an upper hand over her. Kagome's attention went to the demon, which was just as exhausted, and was a lot bloodier than the Taijiya (demon hunter). Although it was dark, Kagome could make out certain **DISTINCT **features about this demon. It had puppy ears, long claws, sharp teeth, glowing ember eyes, lengthy white hair, and what appeared to be a red Kimono. 'No, it can't be. This has to be a dream.' Kagome tried to tell herself as she ran to the bushes. No matter how much she tried to disprove herself, the sweat, the voices, and the pain from her neck wound were too vivid to be a dream.

Once she reached the bushes, she saw what, or rather whom Sango was watching over. "Mariko, what are you doing here? Am I dreaming again?" 

"No, I'm really here, but now is not the time to get into that." Mariko responded. 

With one last throw of the demon hunter's boomerang, the demon died. The three young women walked over to the tattered demon cautiously. The demon was so badly beaten that it was barely recognizable. 

"No!!!!" Kagome screamed as she lay over the bloody body.

"I'm sorry Kagome. He attacked us. It was his demon blood, it had taken over. There was nothing else I could do." Sango apologized 

Mariko chose this time to speak up, "Lets get the body back to camp, then we'll see what we'll do from then on."

A/N: sorry this was suppose to be uploaded yesterday, but my dad was here and her watches over everything I do on the computer. He's a control freak nuff' said. And earlier today I got stuck with mowing the lawn.


	6. Meet Khali

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Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha people. If you don't know that by now, you need help. Do not sue me, I don't have money.

(A/N: **MUST READ!!!! **If you haven't been following up Inuyasha thinks Kagome is dead and Kagome thinks Inuyasha is dead.)

While Inuyasha sulked on a tree branch, three demons surrounded a young woman in a clearing near him. "Why don't you tell us what I want to know and I'll call my men off." the leader lied.

'I cannot let him know, if he finds out the future of the Shikon shards will be at stake.' the young psychic thought uneasily.

Maybe it was Inuyasha's bereavement over Kagome, or the fact that he had not found the person responsible, but for once his first instinct wasn't to fight. 'I just listen in for a while, and then I'll jump in.' he told himself.

"Master Merrick will not be pleased. Khali just answer me, things don't have to end up this way." Khali just stared at the leader, silent. Then she seemed to be peering past the leader, into the trees where Inuyasha sits as silent as the stars.

"Fine Khali, have it your way. Get ready to attack." the leader barked. The two other demons closed in on the girl just as Inuyasha appeared from behind the trees. All of a sudden fist and claws were flying and merging as one to the naked eye. One of the guys was hurled onto a tree branch where he lay unconscious. Another was flung face first into the mud. The leader had enough sense to pull off a quick disappearing act before Inuyasha got to him. 

For the first time Inuyasha got a good look at Khali. She looked eerily and painfully like Kagome. "Are you okay?" A little voice squeaked out of his body.

"Yes, I'm quite alright Inuyasha." Khali responded. Inuyasha recoiled backwards and stood guard. Before he could spit out a sarcastic remark Khali spoke to reassure him of her intentions, "Obviously you haven't heard of me yet. You were not supposed to meet me for another year, but I guess this is as good a time as ever. If you had waited any longer to attack your fate would have been sealed."

Inuyasha's face conveyed his thoughts. 'What is this woman talking about?' "Let me introduce myself properly, I'm Khali the psychic. If things had gone the way fate had planned it you would have heard of me 8 months from now and we would meet a year from today. I would guide you on your quest to gather shards and win the fight with Naraku."

Inuyasha started laughing loudly, "Psychic, of course you are. What was I thinking?"

"I'll prove it, your mother's name was Vianzia. She died when you were very young, only a few summer's old. She was a princess who spent most of her life as a shrine maiden. Later she met your father who was the Great Demon of the West. He had already had another son, Sessomaru, who hates you. He also wants the Tetsusaiga. Just before you were born, your father used one of his fangs and molded it into the Tetsusaiga which can only be used by some with human blood them. Naraku tricked you and Kikyo into believing the other betrayed you. Kikyo died and you were pinned to a tree for 50 years. Kikyo's reincarnation from the future from the future from the future came and set you free. You two set off to look for the shards, and somewhere along the line became friends. You left it at that for fear of her safety. Yesterday while she was thinking of you Koga kissed her. You landed without getting all of the facts and she ran off; am I right?"

Inuyasha roared, " If you knew she would have died, why didn't you come to me before? She's dead because you were waiting for the right 'moment' in time." He lunged forward, but instead of landing on her with his claws ready to fight, he landed on the dirt. She had apparently jumped out of his reach.

"Like I said before, I wont do anything to change what fate has planned for you on your journey, I am just here to guide you along it. Things will get better, trust me for I have foreseen it to be so. Now come along with me on my walk." she said boldly.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Inuyasha growled.

Khali stared up at him confidently, "Whether you like it or not, our fates are tied together. Learn to accept that. What I have to show you is important, now come along or we'll be late." They were finally off, but Inuyasha followed behind very vexed with himself to follow this insane baka who 'could tell the future.'

Kagome sat near the cave entrance listening to the rain listlessly while watching the fire intently. She had not said a word since she returned to camp. Mariko wished she could help, but this was not her area of expertise. Everyone else sat quietly in fear that if they should speak they might say the wrong thing. At least she wasn't crying, right?

Kaede was preparing the body for the burial ritual with the help of Miroku. It looked very emaciated, and as beaten as scrambled eggs. 'Maybe he flipped because Koga had kissed me.'

"Kagome, the burial ritual is almost complete. All that is left is to say he blessings and bury…bury Inuyasha." Kaede said tender heartedly.

" We have to do this now Kagome, the rain looks like it is letting up." Sango murmured. 

Kagome stared at Shippo for a minute. 'Inuyasha would want me to finish the quest. I'll do it for him.' she told herself. Once she completed the thought, she stood up with strength she never knew was within her, "I'm ready."

" Are we there yet? Why can't you just jump on my back and let me fly. I bet we'd get there faster." Inuyasha pouted stubbornly for the umpteenth time. 'Seriously, how does Kagome put up with him. If I were her, I'd be happy to be rid of him, but to complete their task I have to reunite them.' Khali thought bitterly. It wasn't that she hated Inuyasha, it was the, he was a great guy all around. It was his "endearing traits" that bothered her the most. His ego and his need to rush into a fight without knowing all of the facts were his main problems.

"Oh Inuyasha, hush up and take a moment to enjoy your surroundings for a once." she said quickly. ' Kagome's cave should be around here somewhere.'

Inuyasha's "funeral" had just ended. Everyone except for Kagome was packing up so that they could leave. Kagome was peering out of the cave, to the pasture of grass, tress, and wildflowers. Just past the trees an in a clearing she saw two people walking aimlessly through the forest. One of them was a young girl about Kagome's age and height. Actually, she looked a lot like Kagome. But the person next to the young woman took Kagome's breath away and nearly knocked her off of her feet both at the same time. He was incredibly tall, with long, luscious white hair, and a red kimono. He had claws and even in the middle of the day, his amber-colored eyes glowed. Even though Kagome was a good distance away, she could she the man seemed like he did not want to be bothered. 

Kagome could only stare. When Mariko came up to see what Kagome was looking at all Kagome could manage in a voice barely above a whisper was, "Inuyasha!" 


	7. We meet again

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Disclaimers always make me sad. It forces me to leave my imaginary world of believing I own things, which I do not (Like Inuyasha).

A/n: Sorry it took me soooooo long to update but I have been dealing with long essays due, mid-term exams, work that goes along with essays, and the Pre Standardized Assessment Test (aka PSAT). It has been a very busy 3 weeks.

Kagome took off in a sprint off towards the clearing with Mariko on Kagome's heels. The bulky pasture of flowers and grass was slowing Kagome down. Inuyasha was getting farther away from her. He was nearly out of sight. 'Hurry Kagome, hurry!' her mind kept screaming.

" Speed up Khali! I have things to do!" Inuyasha whined.

"Sulking doesn't count as 'things to do' Inuyasha." Khali responded calmly. That was just the opposite of what she was feeling. 'Come on Kagome, I can only keep him entertained for so long. I can sense your presence here. I can also sense your anxiety, but this is between you and him.' 

Just then Khali got an idea; she might be close enough to Kagome to enter her mind. "Scream Kagome, call out to Inuyasha now. Even if you can't really see him now, you know he will be able to hear you."

'That's it!' Kagome thought, 'I need to yell.' "Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha's head snapped sharply to the left of him, towards where he had just walked; and for a while he debated whether or not what he just heard was real. He headed back the way he came to follow the voice. 

Mariko, who had not seen Inuyasha, thought miserably that her friend was going out of her mind. 'she must have really loved him.' Mariko looked to where Inuyasha had just been and had only seen the girl. 

Inuyasha landed only a few inches from Kagome's face. Before either of them could speak, Kagome's look-a-like Khali appeared out of nowhere, "It's about time you caught up to us. If you had taken any longer Inuyasha would have run off for sure."

The young couple could only stare at her. "You knew Kagome was alive and didn't tell me?" he roared.

Mariko had just caught up to Kagome in the clearing. Her face must have matched the way she was feeling because Khali filled them in quickly.

"And you're a psychic?" Mariko asked.

"Yes." Khali responded.

"Right. Well you might be, I mean who actually thought there were real demons in the past. I guess anything's possible." Mariko added nervously. 

"That doesn't explain why you look like me." Kagome stated quietly.

"Oh, I'm Kaede-sama's niece. My mother died After giving birth to me. My father, Kaede-sama's little brother died the day after I was born and I was raised in Southern Japan. My family thinks I'm dead." Khali informed them.

"Why haven't you gone back?" Mariko asked.

"It wasn't time to yet. Now it is time to." Khali replied. Khali's head twitched to the right and her smile faded and then morphed into a apprehensive look. " We have to leave now. It is no longer safe to be here. Kaede-sama, Shippo, Sango and Miroku are on their way. We must leave now."

" Where is Khali?" Merrick bawled as he paced furiously back and forth in the cabin near Mount Fiji. Merrick was a tall, lean man. He had short brown hair and light brown eyes and a stunning smile. Despite his appearance he was a very strong, powerful, and angry young man. He was also manipulative, especially to women who would come to believe that he loved them. H was ruthless; he did whatever he had to, to get to his goal. At one point the woman had been Khali, but she wised up before he could obtain the information about the Shikon shards. He was dressed in a long, black kimono.

" I'm sorry sir. We had her, but this guy jumped us from behind. He was strong; he took out two of my very best men. He could've had me but he stopped to see how Khali was doing." Jason responded.

"Was it a demon?" Merrick asked.

"The way he took down my men that fast, what else could it be. It seemed like she was expecting him to show up. I think she's working with him." Jason said. He than added quickly, " I know your policy on failure, but I assure you it will never happen again." He closed his eyes and his breathing became shallow as he waited to be attacked by Merrick.

" You had better. I'm sparing you because I like you. You're my best missionary. Remember this baka, watch what your doing, this is your only time to mess up. The next time I won't hesitate to attack. Send some men out around this mountain. She's close." Jason left the room quickly, not even glancing over his shoulder to look at Merrick.

"You're here my love, I can feel it. You have what I want and I will do anything to get it. Even- I'll even fight you over it." Merrick stated looking out of his window. 


	8. mistaken identities

Chapter 8

Mariko had been watching her pre incarnated self for a few days with utter fascination. Although she knew Miroku would never admit it, she could tell he was deeply in love with Sango; and although Sango would rather be ripped apart limb by limb than admit she had any romantic feelings towards the perverted monk. It was more than just a mere look here and there at each other; it was their chemistry together, and the way they reacted around each other.

'If in my present life time, I don't get paired up with a soul mate, than Miroku might as well be partnered up with his. I'm just gonna play a little devil's advocate.' The only problem remaining was how to get these two people together and then it hit her.

The group had moved about 15 miles away from the mountain before they set up camp for the night. Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and Mariko set up their sleeping bags or mats on one side of the fire while Inuyasha and Miroku put their sleeping mats on the other side. They were eating dinner in groups: Mariko and Miroku, Sango and Shippo, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Khali. 

"So in the woods, the men who attacked you said 'Merrick will not be pleased.' Did you know him?" Kagome asked.

" You really don't need to know about that right now. It is not relevant to the mission right now." Khali responded.

"Sorry, no information, no alliance. You know a lot more about us than we know about you. Call it 'leverage.'" was Inuyasha's snide remark.

"Merrick and I were engaged. The night before the wedding I had a vision of him before we met. He was talking to his most trusted operative, the guy who ran away when Inuyasha showed up to help me. My vision showed him scamming other women to get what he wanted. He pretends to be in love with them. If I had married him, he would have found out about the Shikon shards and your fighting skills."

"We could have easily taken him!" Inuyasha boasted.

"Not quite. He's joined Naraku. His first mission is to find me and make sure you and I never meet. Since we have, if Merrick or his men catch me, I'll most likely die or stay locked up in his headquarters." Khali responded.

" You like her, don't you?" Mariko said quietly. Before Miroku could answer, Mariko answered for him, "You do. If you wait to tell her, she could move on or die. I know what I'm talking about."

"What do you mean?" Miroku inquired. 

"I had this guy friend Stephan. A lot of my friends could tell that we liked each other. He didn't show his feelings I guess because he thought he was too cool, a playa you know. I didn't show my feelings because I was afraid to show him how I felt. After years and years I was finally ready in high school. We had reached a point in our lives when he wasn't dating anyone, and I wasn't dating anyone. I walked over to his house to find that he had been robbed and shot. He died that night before the ambulance came in my arms. That happened last year. I don't think anyone will ever compare to the way I felt about him. Your world is more dangerous than mine once you add in the demon factor. Sango could die without ever knowing."

"'A playa', 'an ambulance'" Miroku asked both taken aback by words he had never heard before and sadden to learn that his future self had to live through all this sorrow.

"'A playa' is someone who is smooth, too cool for one person. Ask Kagome to explain it to you. 'An ambulance' is kind of like a vehicle that takes you places like Kagome's bike, except it's bigger and is only used for emergencies." Mariko said.

At this new revelation, Miroku's gaze turned back to Sango.

"I'll die a very happy woman even if I never meet anyone that I feel for about as much Stephan, if I know that in my past life I found my soul mate." With that said Mariko lied down on her sleeping mat while she let Miroku ponder this newfound information.

The next day Mariko woke up early to catch Sango while she was in the spring alone. This would be a perfect time for Mariko to put the second part of her plan in the action. She rushed down to the spring and then slowly emerged from the tall grasses.

"I can hear you hentai!" Sango yelled as she swam to the middle of the lake where she would be more covered.

"Relax it's only me. I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a little swim." Mariko responded coolly.

"Oh." Sango replied as she loosened up a little.

Mariko swam out to the middle of the lake so that they would be within 2 feet of each other. They started talking about ordinary things: the weather, cherished childhood memories, most embarrassed moments; things like that.

Then Mariko got to the subject that kept nipping at her, " So Miroku likes you."

"Yeah, me and about all of the women on the Earth." Sango laughed.

"No really, he does, I can tell in the way he acts around you and the way he looks at you when you're not looking." Mariko responded.

Sango blushed, "No way, he asks everyone to bear his child."

"The only guy to ever look at me like that died before I could tell him how I feel. If you could through the rest of your life like that well fine, but if I had a second chance to tell him I would. Do you know how long he has until his air rip swallows him up?" Mariko responded.

"No, actually." Sango said.

"Well, I gotta go change and head back to camp. Maybe I'll actually sleep." Mariko said as she swam back to shore.

Mariko had gotten halfway back to camp when someone grabbed her. She couldn't see, but she heard one of her captors. 

"Are you sure it's her?" one asked.

"Of course I am sure, I sound sure don't I. I've seen her a million times, this is her." The second captor lied.

"Good. Johanna, go back to Master Merrick and tell him we have Khali."


	9. Where for art thou Mariko?

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't know about the rest of you, but **I DO **own Inuyasha. I own pictures and the game and wall paper on my computer. 

A/N: Well I've been having all these ideas just flowing outta me and I haven't had homework really this last few weekends so I decided to post it before I get crammed with homework .

" Are you sure she said she was headed back to camp?" Kagome asked fearfully as she searched the grass near the spring for clues to the disappearance of her school friend. Mariko had been missing for an hour and Kagome kept feeling guiltier by the minute. All she could think about was that if she hadn't have dropped the Shikon shard in school none of this would have happen.

"Yes, I am sure." Sango responded as she searched. It was an unseasonably hot day with hordes of mosquitoes everywhere. Still everyone persevered on even though their clothes stuck to their backs and sweat filled their eyes, sometimes blurring their vision. All they had to show for their search was a spot where Mariko had crossed paths with three demons. Apparently the three demons carried Mariko off into the sky, because her scent was everywhere. It had to have been carried by the wind. Inuyasha tried unsuccessfully to follow Mariko's scent through the air but all he ended up with were dead ends. Finally, when everyone was ready to give up hope, Inuyasha smelt Mariko and the three demon's scent again, it was stronger than the dead-end leads so he followed it with everyone else using him as a guide on the ground.

"We have her my liege" Johanna announced joylessly as the two other captors brought in a bag with the girl in it. The bag did not move or thrash around as if someone was trying to escape. In fact, even with Merrick keen youkai eyes, he could not see the bag move up and down to indicate breathing. 

"I wanted her alive you morons!" He shouted. As he neared the bag to open it, he noticed it wasn't Khali's scent, it was a scent of another; faintly familiar, but different all the same. He untied the bag to see a young girl bounded in thick brown rope so tightly wrapped around her ankles and wrist that it caused her to bleed. Her eyes were covered with a cloth, and she was gagged with part of a kimono. She barely even breathed. Merrick removed the restraints and placed her in his velveteen silk bed. He then shooed the captors out of his bedroom, so he could talk to them without disturbing the girl.

"That is **NOT **Khali you idiots! When I sent you on this mission I had heard you were the best trackers. I was also under the impression you knew what Khali looked like. Someone is gonna pay for this screw up." Merrick bellowed so loud the hallway shook. He had murder in his eyes, and his eyes were set on Johanna.

Johanna backed up slowly until she had reached the hallway wall. "Master Merrick Diego had said that was Khali. He also said that he had seen her a million times." Merrick crept closer to her until he was pressed up against her so hard that the poor girl could not breathe.

"Is that so?" Merrick asked. Johanna couldn't take it anymore. She knew what was coming, so she closed her eyes and waited for the pain and burning to start. She felt the air around her heat up, and the next thing she knew she heard a girlish like scream. The scream hadn't come from her so she listened closer, it was Diego and he was screaming like a girl. Johanna opened her eyes to see Merrick still pressed against her, but his head and attention was turned towards Diego. Diego was on fire; the next thing Johanna saw was Diego turning gray and falling into a pile of ash. 

Merrick turned his attention towards Johanna, "Don't start a track record of not completing your missions or that'll be you next time. Your too pretty for that to happen to." Merrick said softy. He kissed her firmly and then headed back into his room.

The temperature changed from hot to wintry as they approached Mariko. The winds had picked up, and traps had been set more frequently as they neared their destination.

"Inuyasha, we need to stop and rest for the night. It's dark." Sango shouted to the silhouette object flying in the sky.

"We can make it, I see a palace up ahead." Inuyasha grunted.

"We're too tired, and she'll be there tomorrow." Kagome shouted. Miroku glanced uneasily at Khali.

"She's there don't worry. He'll keep her safe for now." Khali responded.

"Then it's settled, we'll camp out in that cave." Miroku announced as the group headed for shelter. 

Merrick headed toward the fireplace and placed his hand on a candle next to it. The fire in the fireplace receded and Merrick entered it. He went down a winding staircase until he reached an underground waterfall. He only had to wait a half an hour before Naraku appeared.

"You haven't found Khali yet?!" Naraku yelled.

"No, not yet. My people who have failed have been severely punished." Merrick responded.

"Let us hope I should not have to do the same to you. You have shown so much … **promise**." Naraku responded.

"I have another plan. My servants did indeed bring the wrong girl, but she is with Inuyasha. I know this because she has said it in her sleep. If I can get her to trust me and mate with me, she will believe everything I want her to. My youkai special ability has been strengthen by my Shikon shard. I can get her to believe I am the "good guy " if we kiss, but that is only temporarily. For it to be permanently, we have to be mated." Merrick said.

"Can you get this done before her friends find out where she is?" Naraku asked.

"Yes, I'll just charm her more than I have my other victims." Merrick responded.

"Good, do it. Lets hope this works. GO, make friends. Ku ku ku ku ku." Naraku laughed and then left.


	10. Wolf in sheeps clothing

Chapter 10

****

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN INUYASHA AND I'M BROKE! I'D TO SEE YOU GET MONEY OUTTA ME!

A/n: Sorry my last chapter was short. For those of you are wondering I update my stories frequently. The latest I'll let a story sit is 3 weeks, and that'll be due to homework mostly. Thanks for the great reviews. For those of you who actually read this: Go check out "Chinese Cinderella". I just read it, and it is SO sad. It is an Autobiography about an unwanted daughter. For those of you who wanted to write a review anonymously, my sister LilsurferSango (Also has written fanfics on this site) helped me take that feature block off. If that was too confusing for you, anonymous reviewers can now review. 

-Chocolatedragon15

Merrick reentered his bedroom to find Mariko still unconscious; he left the room and called upon one of his flunkies. 

"Shaneal (pronounced shaw-neal), make sure the barrier stays strong enough so that Inuyasha cannot enter it. I don't think I'll have to inform you of what will happen if you were to fail me," he retorted.

"Yes master Merrick," was all Shaneal could say while trembling.

"Oh and make sure to hire some new maids, I don't believe the other two will be coming back." Merrick added with a chuckle.

He turned and left the shaky girl alone. He headed back to the room with a cool damp towel and some warm milk and stewed beef soup. As he enters he saw the girl stir in her sleep. She sat up at the aromatic smell of food.

Mariko tried to get her bearings in the shaded room. The last events that she could remember suddenly returned to her with a vengeance. 

' How long have I been out? Why am in such a luxurious bed? Shouldn't I be dead by now? Where is Kagome and the others?' was all she could think of over and over. She struggled to get out of the bed and couldn't. She realized blood on the satin sheets. Something made her look at her hand, and she soon realized that blood was trickling down from a blood stained wrap around her arm. Her head pounded and her breath was short. Suddenly she realized that there was a young dark-haired young man sitting in a chair facing the bed. She went to a fighting stance, but in her weaken state and the cushiony bed made her lose her footing and she landed on her butt.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you." Merrick said softly.

Mariko glared at him. The only thing she was sure of was that three demon things attacked her, they talked about some guy name Merrick, and she woke up here… wearing different clothes. "How did I get here? Who are you?" 

"My name is Mark Giovanni, I am the prince of the Southern Lands." Merrick lied.

"That still doesn't explain how I wound up here." Mariko went on the offensive eyeing him guardedly.

" I was on my routine morning walk by my favorite pond when I spotted three lowly demons carrying a bag with something in it. I followed to investigate, they dumped the bag over the waterfall and I went after it. I returned home with the bag and opened it to see what they were trying to hide and I found you bound and gagged. That was two weeks ago. I have kept you company and have not left your side. The doctors said you could not make it, but what do doctors know, they make you pay top dollar to tell you your dying, when determination and hard work can get you out of any bind your in." Merrick smiled as he said this.

"Oh, and no one has visited me since?" Mariko inquired, surely if she had been missing for two weeks Inuyasha and the rest would have found her by now.

"No, just me and my servants. I checked all around in villages and no body claimed to have known you. 

Mariko's gaze fell onto the floor, 'No one came?' She was having a difficult time around this new information.

"This is the first time you have been awake in weeks, I had my cook make you something just in case. You should eat, you need your strength." Merrick said tenderly.

Reluctantly, Mariko took the soup. It warmed her up and renewed her spirit and body. 

The rest of the day Merrick let her sleep. Merrick was in his counseling room staring out at the trees when Jason, his most trusted ally and best missionary walked in.

Jason was still making up for his failure at Mount Fiji and was trying to win back Merrick's confidence and good graces. "What is the matter my liege?"

"Do you remember the girl Diego brought back?" Merrick asked.

"The quiet one? Yes." Jason responded.

"I have a spell that will make time in this castle go faster than usual. To her, she has been here two weeks without a word from her friends; in reality it has only been a mere day. If I can keep this up my plan will work, but I can sense the baka half-breed close. Within 100 to 200 feet I'd say. If he gets through the shield… Lets just say I'll be joining Diego very soon." Merrick replied.

"You're really worried about this guy… Inuyasha, aren't you?" Jason asked.

"On to the matter at hand, I just have to not think about it. As long as Mariko sees a 'sensitive me' she will grow more fondly of me and then I will finish her off."

In the next few days according to castle time, Mariko was up and about and "Mark" was constantly with her. He'd taken her on picnics, through a rose garden labyrinth; she'd also gotten to meet all of the help. Mariko had finally decided that she could trust Mark, and told herself that the feeling she had had in her stomach the first time they had met while she was conscious to her not knowing him. 

She now found herself looking for ways to see and be with him. She would doodle his name on a papyrus paper. 

Several weeks later according to palace time, Mariko was walking in the moonlight as she neared the rose labyrinth daydreaming when Mark stepped out of the dark.

"Sorry, I was just on a midnight stroll; the stars are beautiful out tonight." "Mark" informed Mariko.

"Yeah they are." Mariko responded lost in Merrick's eyes.

"How would you like to accompany me to the water fall. It's only a few meters from here." He offered.

"Sure." Mariko took lead remembering it from a "week" earlier. "I love waterfalls. When I was little there was one right by my house." She added.

Shaneal marched swiftly out of the palace with Johanna. They knew Inuyasha was somewhere in the vicinity of the castle, all that was to remain was to find him. They need to find him quickly, because if Merrick ever found out what they were about to do, even if they never found Inuyasha they would be meeting their maker. 

"Oh no, we forgot about the guard at the front gate!" Johanna gasped as they neared the gate entrance.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Shaneal said to Johanna. Shaneal then turned her attention to the guard.

"And where do you think your going on such as ghastly night?" the guard asked accusingly.

"Johanna and I are looking for a few new maids to replace the ones Master Merrick fired," Shaneal answer glaring at the guard.

"Oh no, no one is going any where tonight." The guard answered back moving closer to the gate.

"Fine then, once Master Merrick is ready to slay me for not hiring a maid, I will give him your name to for not letting me out and then we can burn together." Shaneal responded never taking her gaze off of the guard.

"Fine then, you two may pass." The guard said reluctantly.

The two young girls entered the threshold to the outside world, where they were nearly blown away. They girls spent an hour trying to brave the storm but to no avail. Finally about a mile and a half away they noticed light from the inside of a cave and they headed toward it.

Even though the wind blew wildly outside, Inuyasha could still smell or rather sense two presences. One was that of a demon, and he couldn't get a clear reading on the other. 

The two girls entered the cave where the wind was a lot less intense. Inuyasha took a fighting stance along with Sango while the others just gawked at the girls.

"It's okay, they are here to help us." Khali offered in the girls' defense.

"Khali, is that you?" one of the girls called out running to hug Khali.

"Yeah it is. It feels like I haven't seen you in years." Khali answered.

" This is Shaneal, she started working for Merrick when he and I were engaged. And this is...Johanna. You just started working… 3 months ago; right?" Khali answered.

"Yeah, how did you? Oh psychic." Johanna responded.

"If she works for Merrick, how can we trust her?" Sango asked while inching her hand closer to her boomerang. 

"My tribe has been working for has been working for years to bring Merrick down even when he was perceived not to be a threat. Our chief elder Jun-ling had a vision of him before she died. She had foretold of his growing hate for others, and his determination to become stronger and more powerful. She foretold his obsession with the Shikon shards. The one thing that will seal our fate if is he is to mate with someone name Jun-qing. After that he will become more powerful than Naraku, and their future son will be more powerful still. Khali and I are from the same tribe." Shanteal explained.

"Johanna is it? Where do you fit in with all of this?" Kagome asked.

"I was promised by my parents to wed Merrick. I wasn't his type, and he called it off. He promised to take care of me. Merrick is so rich and powerful, my parents didn't object to him backing out of the marriage. They moved to the east coast and I haven't heard from them since. I always thought that there was something not right about him, even though he was great to me. I soon learned why my parents feared him. He is one of the most powerful youkai I've ever seen. He needs to be stopped. Khali, have you gotten any visions about Mariko?" Johanna explained.

"No, I haven't. I don't know why though." Khali answered bewilderedly.

"It's the dome he has around the palace, it somehow blocks visions you would have had about her. You need to hurry up. The time in the palace is different than that of the rest of the world. Mariko as only been missing for five days now, in the palace it's been about 2 ½ months. She thinks you guys never came for her. Merrick is trying to convince her that he's in love with her and wants to marry her." Shaneal informed the group.

"Oh." Shippo cried.

"If he mates with her, there's no hope of getting her back, and he will have full access to anything she knows about each of you." Johanna added.

"Oh no!" Kagome cried. " Why didn't I think of this before?"

"Think of what?" Inuyasha asked.

"Mariko is only half-Japanese, she is also half-Chinese." Kagome answered.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Shippo asked.

"Well, Mariko, isn't her first name, it her middle name; she only goes by it because she thinks of herself as truly Japanese." Kagome said shaking. "Her first name is Jun-qing."

"We have to stop Merrick." Miroku said.

"I have a plan. We need to hire two new maids, because the other two disappeared. He knows what Inuyasha looks and smells like, but he does love women being maids." Johanna said.

Kagome looked over to the rock Inuyasha was perched on, he turned towards her, "**NO** way are you even thinking of going in there alone!" He spat at her.

"This is the only way to save Mariko in time, and besides Sango will be there." Khali offered in Kagome's defense.

"Why don't **YOU** go?" Inuyasha yelled.

"Because Merrick knows what I look like. As soon as Sango and Kagome get Mariko out before Mariko and Merrick mate, you can go in and fight."

At this new fact Inuyasha settled down to a low growl.

"We have to leave now, if we are gone for to long the guard will become suspicious and turn us in. Sango and Kagome, we have to leave tonight." Shaneal responded.


	11. whos kissin' who

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I **DO NOT **OWN INUYASHA! NOW STOP BOTHERING ME! **LOL**!

A/N: Well I have been getting great feedback. It seems everyone so far seems to like how this story is going. Hopefully I can keep this up! *Crosses fingers *.

-Chocolatedragon15

Mariko sat up in bed at dawn staring out of the window. Her heart kept doing flip-flops in her chest. The night before at the waterfall "Mark" had kissed her gently. He then drank her in, and asked her to marry him.

Mariko now looked down at her engagement ring. It was the biggest diamond she had ever seen before, and she had come from a family that earned its wealth by mining diamonds. She couldn't believe that it had been a year all ready (castle time). With no word or news from her so called friends, and no way for Mariko to get back to the well, she decided to live in luxury with a very handsome man who could more than provide her with all of her worldly desires.

"What took you so long?" Merrick yelled at Shaneal.

"You asked me to find new maids. I had to find ones suitable enough for you whom would remain loyal to only you. It is a lot harder to find such a person then it was even ten years ago." Shaneal apologized.

"Send in the maids." Merrick ordered.

Sango and Kagome entered wearing bright pink Kimono's. Each bowed her head, but Sango muttered under her breath about Merrick being a pervert.

"This is Kenosha," Shaneal lied while pointing towards Kagome. Shaneal then pointed to Sango, "and this is Kinshasa. They are sisters."

Both Sango and Kagome lowered their heads to the floor in kowtow, and then raised their heads while greeting Merrick in unison, "Good evening Master Merrick."

"I hope Shaneal has filled you in on your duties." 

"She has Master Merrick." "Kinshasa" answered.

"Good, then I'll fill in the rest. **Only **once you have finished cleaning the entire palace each day, the rest of the day is yours. You are not allowed in my room or the main guest bedroom on the top floor, understood?" Merrick informed the women.

"Of course Master Merrick." This time "Kenosha" spoke up.

"I expect you to start right away. Oh and girls, if you fail either of my 'special' rules you will end up like my last two maids." Merrick said while glaring at the two "sisters". 

"We searched all day, and have found nothing," Sango whispered. 

"That's not true! I have seen a girl who bears a striking resemblance to Mariko this afternoon, but she soon disappeared and I haven't found her again yet," Kagome argued. 

"But, if he was hiding her, wouldn't she be in his room where he can keep an eye on her? We risked our lives and tore that room up and down; still we found nothing. We searched practically the whole palace, **AND** the grounds; it's been a month (castle time)." Sango said. 

"But, guess what room we haven't checked?" Kagome asked.

"Oh, the master guest room on the top floor." Sango answered finally understanding. 

"And remember what the prophecy said?" Kagome asked. 

"Yeah, so let's get going." Sango answered. 

"It's been four days! Why haven't those wenches come back yet?" Inuyasha growled. He looked at Khali, "If they hurt Kagome or Sango I'm gonna rip you apart limb by limb." 

"Pick some ripe grapes, and bring them into the kitchen" Johanna said. 

"What? I'm not a farmer! Pick it your own self," Sango yelled. 

"Trust me, you *need* to pick grapes." Johanna said. There was something in her voice that made Sango relinquish the argument without another word of complaint. She went to pick the grapes. 30 minutes later, she headed back into the kitchen. She nearly drooped the basket in surprise as she saw two very familiar people making out. She gasped in surprise before running away. As she headed out the door she wondered in Mariko would blow her cover. 


	12. Who are you really?

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha in anyway. Blah, blah, blah, blah!

****

A/N: Some one asked me a while ago and I keep forgetting to answer the question. The reason why the guy does not recognize Khali is because he had never met Khali before. He knew she was in the area and he took Mariko anyway. Sorry, if this chapter sucks, since I found out about Glenn Quinn's death, I don't feel much like writing (talk about living under a rock. I don't find out until almost a year later). I'll try to shape up so that my next chapters are better. This is a little OOC. This chapter may be a little short, but my next ones will be longer.

"You ran?" Shaneal asked curiously.

"Yeah." Sango replied meekly while her attention was focused on her small feet.

"I thought you were 'Sango the Demon Hunter'?" Johanna asked.

"I am. I was expecting Mariko to be tied up or being tortured. As soon as I walk in she is making out with Merrick and she has a pretty big stone on a ring that wasn't there 6 days ago!" Sango stated.

It was late at night once everyone had gone to bed. The girls decided that they needed a new plan to save Mariko.

"To her, you guys left her here stranded a little more than a year ago." Johanna replied.

"Merrick has also brainwashed her to believe she is in love with him. They have already set a wedding date; 3 days from now." Shaneal answered.

"So soon, this is not going to be easy," Kagome whispered wearily.

"Let's try getting her alone to talk to her. She might listen to reason." Johanna responded. 

"Now that the plan is set, quickly, get back to bed before someone realizes what we're up to." Sango ushered Johanna and Shaneal out.

"Have patience Inuyasha, the castle is big and has many guards and it is only 4 girls." Miroku said trying to reassure Inuyasha.

"Miroku, don't you dare!" Khali yelled grabbing the monk's hand and twisting it a little.

"What, I didn't do anything!" Miroku protested.

"You were going for my butt." Khali countered as she let go off Miroku.

"How did you? Oh, your psychic," the monk said while wincing, although Khali did not look it, she was incredibly strong, maybe even strong enough to rival Sango.

Khali looked over at the agitated demon, if she didn't do something soon, he would go off on his own. "Inuyasha, we will get word within the next few days, trust me."

"That's what you said when they left!" The half-breed spat.

The morning air was crisp and dewy. Kagome looked out of the window to watch the sunrise. She caught a glimpse of a dark-haired girl, before Kagome left she shouted to the cook that she would pick fresh berries for Master Merrick's breakfast and was out the door.

Kagome headed into the labyrinth, weaving in and out, back and forth until she reached a waterfall. In was cool and majestic; it was the most beautiful waterfall Kagome had ever seen. 

There was a girl braiding her hair on a large boulder while humming the "wedding march." Kagome walked inched closer, and closer, until she was only a few inches away from the girl. Kagome extended her arm out to touch the girl.

"Kagome, what are you doing here?" Mariko asked as she turned around.

"I have been looking for you ever since you went missing." Kagome answered.

"You've been looking for me for a year? Why are you wearing a maids uniform?" Mariko asked.

"Who do you think lives here?" Kagome asked.

"Mark Giovanni, my fiancé." Mariko said happily.

"I hate to have to tell you this…" Kagome started.

Apparently Mariko was still in "la la land", "No this is perfect. I can take him through the well to meet my parents. Wait, what do you mean 'I hate to have to tell you this'?"

"Mark Giovanni is really Merrick. I had to disguise myself as a maid to get in here. You haven't been missing for a year, just about 6 days. Somehow time on this castle grounds is different from the real world." Kagome answered with downcast eyes.

For a long time both girls were quiet, and refused to look at each other. Then as if Kagome had insulted Mariko's mother, Mariko began to yell at the top of her lungs, "You're lying! I have something going great for me for once and you want to take it away! How could you? Just because you couldn't find me for a year doesn't mean you hav e the right to ruin my dreams!" 

Mariko ran off through the maze again, Kagome tried to follow her, but it had appeared as if Mariko disappeared into thin air.

"Great, Shaneal was right, Mariko is totally brainwashed." Kagome muttered.

Mariko had made it back to the master guest room undetected, although Mariko wanted to believe otherwise, a few things about Mark did seem weird like the way the servants flinched or the fear in their eyes once Mark was around. Now that she was marrying Mark, Mariko got the same looks, because some believed that Mark used Mariko as a spy.

Mark came into Mariko's room with a bouquet of different color roses, "One down, two days to go. Can you believe it? We will be married in two days."

Mariko's attitude change automatically, "I know it seems like yesterday that we got engaged." 

Merrick leaned in for a kiss when Mariko leaned away, " Not till the wedding," she teased.

"Fine," Merrick kissed her on her forehead and left.

Mariko noticed that sometimes Mark would speak outside her door, but the conversation would be muffled so she never really heard anything. She pressed her ear against the door and listened, silently praying that Mark would slip, and talk outside.

"It's Shaneal!" Khali called to the guys inside the cave. She was peering outside the cavern at the castle.

"See Inuyasha, I told you we would get word." Miroku answered.

"Quickly inside the cave." Shaneal whispered looking back. Once every one was inside and sitting around the warm fire Shaneal started again.

"Want some soup?" Shippo offered.

"No thanks, I must give you Kagome's message and go back to the castle before they realize that I am missing. Kagome says to strike at midnight tomorrow night. She had some trouble convincing Mariko that Merrick set her up, but she said that she will have Mariko by then."

"About time." Inuyasha grumbled.

"If I may speak freely, might I suggest that even if Kagome hasn't convinced Mariko entirely by then, that you attack. The most important thing id to break Mariko and Merrick up before the prophecy comes true; by **any** cost break them up." Shaneal added before leaving.

"What are you doing here Kinshasa?" "Mark" bellowed.

"Today is my turn to clean the guest rooms except for the master guest room." "Kinshasa answered.

"Funny, that girl sounds like Sango." Mariko whispered under her breath.

"This is the guest hall, not a room!" Merrick corrected her.

"Still counts, check the maid chore list if you want verification." Sango answered.

Merrick reached for the list. He read it, then handed it back, "Fine, but finish your work here and take the rest of the day off. My guest is very tired, and would like some sleep." He yelled.

"Yes Master Merrick." Sango called.

"What?! Oh no!" Why did I run away from Kagome? I'm all alone now!" Mariko whispered.

Around midnight, once everyone was asleep, Mariko opened the window to climb out. Just as she was almost out, her bedroom door opened, and a figure walked in. It ran to the window and grabbed her arm. It threw her onto the bed.

"Just where do you think your going? Where getting married in two days whether you like it or not!" The voice yelled.


	13. Now that's a conundrum

Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not now, or have ever owned Inuyasha!

A/N: Well reviews have slowed down a little, but I'm not worried. Eat all the sugary candy in your house and try to be worried about reviews. Ah ha! You can't, point made! I'm bouncing off my walls, wee! Any way, any review is a good review! This is another short chapters, but my next ones are **LONGER. **Trust me!

-Chocolatedragon15

The tepid sun rose in the east just as it always did, but somehow today, it didn't give Sango the feeling that all was right with the world. No matter what kind of dilemma Sango was in sunsets and sunrises always seemed to melt away her problems. Add to the fact that there was a dreadful knot in her stomach screaming to tell her that something was afoot. 

None of the four girls could sleep last night, for they all felt it. Kagome received the least sleep of all due to her dream. In Kagome's dream Mariko came to her in ceremonial clothing and she had her hair pinned up into a tight bun. Her cheeks had been stained with salted tears and at first she seemed as if she were unable to talk.

"Kagome, I need your help Mark isn't who he appears to be. His real name is Merrick, and he knows that I know. If I'm not saved soon… " Mariko faded out. 

The dream was way to real to be a dream. Kagome headed towards the main guest room around three in the morning to find it completely turned around, and it had new furniture too.

To add on to more suspicion, the order to stay out of the room had been lifted.

Kagome was worried, and she searched throughout the palace, but could not find a trace of her friend. To make matters worse Merrick was M.I.A. claiming that he had important meeting that would last all day, and he didn't specify on when he planned to return, or even where he would be.

Inuyasha paced back and forth in the cave unable to wait any longer. The waiting was like an itch that he could not reach to scratch; the worse part was not the itching, it was the fact that he could not do anything about it.

Everyone prepared for the battle in their own way, Miroku tried meditating, Shippo practiced his transformations, Inuyasha was pounding his fists into the cave walls, and Khali was staring out of the mouth of the cave toward the castle to get a layout of the land.

Around noon, strange people started showing up and proceeded up to Merrick's conference room. They came in groups with a leader or two, and about 3 guards. Something about these men was just not right, for all of the troves of people who appeared. The conference room never seemed to fill, in fact it didn't even seem that the room was occupied at all.

Sango, Shaneal, Johanna, and Kagome were in the garden when the arrivals had finally died down to a trickle.

"Is it just me or do these people don't seem exactly human?" Kagome asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" Johanna asked.

"I mean that to me, the quest don't seem entirely human." Kagome answered.

"They certainly look human to me." Shaneal answered.

"No, Kagome's right. Something seems a bit odd about these 'guest'." Sango added.

Just then four men and a young woman appeared from the front gates, "We're looking for Merrick." 

"First floor, last room on your left." Shaneal replied. The group waited till the men where inside the palace to follow. They were a good distance behind, with weapons underneath their clothes ready to fight.

They watched the guest go into the conference room. For some time all was quiet until the hallway exploded in a bright blue almost white light. All four girls fell to the ground. In 5 minutes the light was gone. And they got up and looked at each other.

The girls got up and entered the room. To his or her shock and misfortune no one was there.

"Where could they have gone, is it possible that they went into another room, we were so far behind them sometimes we didn't see them." Johanna responded.

"No, they came in here; I'm sure of it!" Sango stated.

"Then where did they go?" Shaneal asked frustrated.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before!" Kagome exclaimed, "There must be a trap door or something."

Kagome's three companions looked at her as if Kagome had just told them that Santa was real. It took Kagome a while before she realized that they had no idea a trap door was.

"A trap door is a door that is hidden. You have to use something that seems to be ordinary like this trophy here," Kagome said pulling on the trophy on the fire place," and it would open up the trap door."

Just then a blinding light came from the fireplace, which was followed by a gust of air that blew out the fire in the fireplace.

"You found it." Shaneal answered.

The four girls headed into the fireplace and down winding stairs.

"I don't get it," Sango replied discouraged, " Shouldn't they be here?"

A big guy grabbed Kagome, while three others grabbed Shaneal, Sango, and Johanna, and forced them to drop their weapons.

"For all your futuristic knowledge Kagome, you couldn't have guessed that things would turn out this way." Merrick said as he landed on the ground. All of his associates seemed to have materialized around the four-trapped girls.

"What, how do you?" Sango yelled.

Merrick cut her off, "You'll be surprised of all the things your wife will wait to tell you until after your married."

With all of the hullabaloo, and action Kagome had not processed the information just given to here, "Married… married to whom?"

Just then a woman in walked in wearing a ceremonial gown and her jet-black hair pulled into a tight bun. She had her head up high, and she walked over to greet her husband. It wasn't until she finished kissing her husband, and walked over to Kagome, that Kagome and Sango realized who it was.

"Hello Kagome." the sensuous voice called.

"M… Mariko?" Kagome called.


	14. Harem girls

****

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own "Inuyasha".

A/n: Hey it's me again! For those of you wondering Mariko is the one married to Merrick. Not Kagome.

-Chocolatedragon15

Kagome awoke tied to bed in a damp room. There was a fire in the fireplace in the corner. A silhouette of a figure stood up and walked around to her side of the bed.

Kagome tried to speak, but she felt a gag over her mouth. Her mouth was dry and her throat itched.

The figure sat right next to her and then leaned in close enough so that Kagome could make out the color of the person's eyes; they were a light brown, and seem to calm her some although she knew she should be afraid.

"Do you believe in monogamy? There is no law that says we have to be, and I've decided that two wives from the future is better than one," the voice was so even and cold that it was eerie. 

"Merrick!" was all she could think while trying to struggle and then she slipped into unconsciousness. 

Inuyasha was leading the gang as he sprinted towards the palace. The rest just tried to keep up. The magic barrier was down now; Inuyasha could sort of sense it. If it weren't fully down yet it was weak enough for him to punch a hole through. 

"I'm on my way. Baka girl should have waited for me. Something's wrong." Inuyasha growled under his breath.

"I have to have this set up just right. He needs to come to me on my terms. Now what is the best way to make sure he shows up?" Merrick contemplated.

"Use his little girlfriend Kagome. He is really overprotective of her. But just for kicks, how about having all the girls serve and revere you; like a harem." Merrick's best fighter Jason spoke up.

"Good, good. And if I defeat Inuyasha, Naraku and I will become full fledge partners. I would have taken care of the one person who could stand a chance of defeating him. And if I could defeat Inuyasha, there's a good chance I could defeat Naraku himself." Merrick mused.

"The only thing that troubles me is the fact that Inuyasha isn't here yet. Don't you think he should have showed up a least a week ago?" Jason asked.

"I knew there was a reason I hired you," Merrick laughed, "Now take the guards and secure the perimeter. I have a feeling that Inuyasha will be making his grand entrance tonight."

"I told you Merrick is nothing compared to me it only took three seconds to break down his **'strong' **magical wall." Inuyasha sang his own praise.

"Too easy." Khali responded.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Miroku asked. Khali seemed to him worried as if something was wrong.

"I'm not doubting that you are strong if not a skillful fighter, but Merrick is an intelligent man there should be guards here. He always has about 40 to 50 guards always on duty and we have not run into any of them. About ten to fifteen have permanent postings while the others walk around in the castle and around the grounds. There should be at least three guards at this front gate. It doesn't make sense, unless…" Khali started.

"Unless he is expecting us," Inuyasha finished, "There are 20 of them headed this way, I can smell them."

"All the girls are under my spell." Merrick retorted triumphantly.

"Isn't time for you to prepare for battle?" Kagome asked.

"No, I want Inuyasha to walk in." Merrick replied.

"You really think that'll work?" Kagome asked.

"Of course it'll work, and just for tonight you can be number 1 wife; head wife." Merrick responded.

"You won't let him take me will you?" Kagome asked sorrowfully.

"No, he'll die tonight." Merrick answered.

"What if he is defeated by the guards blocking the front gate?" Sango asked bringing over a bowlful of peeled grapes to hand feed to Merrick.

"Don't worry my precious, there is no way they can defeat him, even with Jason's help. Jason's good I'll admit it, but he lacks discipline and experience to ever defeat Inuyasha," Merrick answered, "Those guards will just slow them down some."

Everyone was doing a good job of holding off the guards, but there were still too many. More kept joining and they were coming from everywhere like a pack of locus destroying everything in their path. Shippo placed a leaf on his head and recited an incantation. He was instantly turned into a reflection of Inuyasha.

Jason came out of nowhere and tackled Inuyasha to the ground. Inuyasha jumped up and kicked Jason in the neck. Jason flew into a tree and was knocked unconscious.

A guy flew out of a tree onto Shippo's back and Shippo ran backwards into a tree and the guy fell.

Another guard tripped Khali and she grabbed him by the throat, "I'm a lot stronger than I look. Too bad, this mistake will be you last." Her eyes grew to an intense red color and she tossed the guard passed the front gate, leaving a trail of blood to his body.

Miroku stood, hit a guy behind the guy's head and knocked him out.

Inuyasha, Miroku and Shippo kept looking at the body outside the gate and Khali.

"Ready? Lets go." Khali called.

"How did you?" Shippo started.

Khali did a complete about face to come face to face with Shippo in his transformed form. She looked at each of the guys and then glanced back to Shippo, "I told you we are all not what we appear to be and if we don't hurry up…" Khali paused, "Lets just get going."

The guys remained quiet and followed Khali inside. All of the lights were dimmed except for a corridor that had been blindingly illuminated. 

"He wants us to follow this corridor," Mariko answered. The group checked all of the doors down the elongated corridor too find all but one locked.

Inuyasha rushed towards it to open it. Inside was one of the more extravagant rooms in the whole palace. There were thick blue silk curtains draped over the windows. There were four small beds around the room with blue satin sheets. The bed in the middle was the most luscious of them all. It was big enough for Kagome, Sango, Inuyasha, Khali, Shippo, Mariko, and Miroku to sleep in it at the same time and still have room for three more people to sleep comfortably.

Johanna and Shaneal walked in from a doorway that was hidden by one of the smaller beds. 

"Where are Kagome and Sango?" Khali asked. 

Johanna and Shaneal seemed to be staring past the group. The girls were wearing silver straight dresses that reached down to their ankles and embroidered hems. Their necks, wrist, and ankles were adorned with thick gold. 

The two girls headed towards the large bed. One went headed for one end of the bed and the other girl went to the other end. The girls pulled the curtain swathed over the bedpost (A/n: This is an old fashion bed).

Lying on the bed were Kagome and Merrick. Kagome was wearing a straight knee length dress while Merrick was wearing a daiu. 

…And they were making out!

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked heavy-heartedly. 


	15. Who's gonna fight Merrick?

Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

**A/N**: I would like to thank all of my reviewers, especially naturally high and Fairyangel24 who have stuck by me through my insanity and my twisted version of Inuyasha Feudal Fairytale. I have never actually seen the show because I can't find any in English in Florida, but I have played the game almost religiously and have read a few spoilers and I have read different fanfics.

Nobody even noticed when Sango came up behind Inuyasha and the others. Sango was moving stealthily towards the group. She pulled her boomerang away from her back and raised it high above her head.

Inuyasha for once stood like a soldier ready to attack; yet he did not move. His brain was screaming at him to move but his feet were planted firmly to the ground like the roots of a tree.

Three other women were behind Sango were waiting for her order to strike. Sango held her breath and walked up behind Miroku and knocked him out. At this time the other girls took their places behind Inuyasha, Khali, and Shippo.   


Inuyasha and the others awoke in a brightly lit white room with no windows or doors. Inuyasha's sensitive ears heard voices he could recognize and then a doorframe appeared as if by magic and a girl walked in with a tray of water and dry bread. She was wearing a golden daiu and a matching golden top with a strap that tied behind her neck and four straps tying behind her back. 

She smirked when she noticed Inuyasha had roused and was staring at her keenly. She dropped the tray in the heart of the room and turned to abscond.

"Where is Kagome?" Inuyasha called to the girl fiercely.

"The Queen is with her King, Sir Merrick of Course. She will come and make her intentions clear …later. As for the four of you, the only reason your alive is because our King is preparing for battle, he wants you gone forever. He'll pick anyone of you to fight, and if that person loses, you'll **_all _**die."

The girl turned to walk away when she heard Inuyasha struggling in his chains; the girl yelled over her shoulder, " Don't bother, those chains your sporting are reinforced especially for half lings like yourself."

The girl skipped out of the room and the doorway vanished.

"Shouldn't you be training?" Justin asked as he walked into the conference room to find Merrick lying on a table getting a massage.

"I don't need to, I know who'll I fight… Inuyasha." Merrick boasted confidently.

"But the prophecy said that he will defeat you, are you willing to take that kind of risk?" Justin asked bewilderedly.

"How easily we forget, Jason that there is another part to this prophecy. Inuyasha must be joined as one before the prophecy can come true, do you honestly see that happening in the next 5 hours?" Merrick asked skeptically.

"Well, no, but I still say you should be on your guard." Justin replied worriedly.

"There you have it then, no need to worry. True Inuyasha maybe strong, but I am stronger yet." Merrick replied as he shooed Justin away.

Merrick went back to his massage. He had no time for his cousin's constant worrying now, not when he was so close to winning everything he has always dreamed of. His cousin was a half-breed, like Merrick. He was also incredibly loyal, but Justin was never as aggressive or as powerful as Merrick. 

"Justin is just overanalyzing things like he always does, yeah that's it," Merrick tried to convince himself, "I don't need this right now, I need to be psyched for the fight."

Sango entered the room an hour later wearing similar clothing as the girl who came in earlier, except Sango's clothing was silver. 

Miroku managed to stagger up and hop over to Sango. 

Sango reacted by pushing him down again while leering.

Miroku hobble up again, " Sango, do you remember your brother Kohaku? Do you remember anything? You're a demon hunter, come on Sango."

Sango turned to leave, and then twisted back around to listen.

"Keep going it's working," Khali said. 

"Remember I'm a hentai, I'm not proud of it. Inuyasha, he always loses his temper at the wrong moment, but he always pulls through." Miroku recited.

"Houshi!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Shippo is always getting thrown around by Inuyasha." Miroku replied.

Sango looked down at herself and gasped, " What am I wearing, houshi? I didn't do something I'll regret, did I?"

"The memories will come back in a little while. Right now you need to go back and watch over Kagome and Mariko, they're still under Merrick's spell." Khali responded. 

Sango stared profoundly into Miroku's velvet eyes and couldn't turn away.

"Now!" Khali shouted, "Before they become too suspicious!"

Sango turned and left quickly.

There was a great pain in Miroku's cursed hand, but Miroku persevered through the agonizing pain. _"If it is to be so then, I know what I must do," _he thought gravely.

A few hours later a woman wearing a traditional ceremonial kimono appeared as if from thin air beckoning everyone inside the room.

"Come, follow me quickly. The hour of your judgment is at hand."

"Whom do you want you to follow you?" Miroku asked still clasping his right hand. 

"All of you now!" the girl screamed as she lifted Miroku up from the ground, "on your feet."

The group groggily got up and headed down a long, narrow hallway towards a room full of demon guest all jeering. 

In the middle of the room was a sandpit ring. The highest seats were preserved for women claimed by Merrick as off-limits. The three closest to the ring were Sango, Kagome, and Mariko and they looked uneasy.

_"Sango must have gotten through to them." _Khali thought with a smile.

Her smile faded away like sugar melting in the rain once she noticed who was standing in the middle of the sandpit ring.

Sango noticed Miroku in the sea of people right away and she grabbed Mariko and Kagome and headed down to the ring.

Merrick started his speech from the sandpit "I've decided to fight…"


	16. Fighting the good fight

Chapter 16

Disclaimer: For the thousandth time _I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA!_ But if you wanted to give it to me for my birthday, I'll understand. 

A/N: Well I've had a good run. This is my very last chapter of my very first fanfic. I hope you like it. While writing this chapter I cried and cried (you'll see). I would like to thank all of my reviewers; you guys were my inspiration to keep on writing (especially naturally high and Fairyangel24 and KougasMyMan who have been with me from the very beginning).

-Chocolatedragon15

_"This is perfect," _Merrick thought, _"Everything is working according to plan. I _**won't**_ free Kagome from my spell and return to her time until after she watches Inuyasha die. Although she is strong, she is not powerful enough to subdue me. As for her friend Sango, she'll die. She might be too powerful for me to fight. Mariko will stay here with me, and the rest will die."_

"I will fight… Inuyasha!" Merrick crowed vociferously while eyeing Inuyasha fiercely, "No swords, just demon power got it!"

The crowd's cheering increased ardently showing their approval.

Sango, Mariko, and Kagome had almost reached the ring when a large man blocked their way.

"Where do you think your going? You have special orders from Sir Merrick not to leave your seats!" The monstrous man bellowed.

"You don't understand we need to tell the … Merrick something…" Mariko started.

"In person…" Kagome continued.

With one swift movement, Sango pulled out her boomerang from her back and with all of her strength and willpower she knocked the man unconscious. 

"Hurry, we need to move!" Sango yelled.

Inuyasha stepped forward and crossed the threshold of the room.

Merrick lunged at Inuyasha and Inuyasha rolled to the left and he was out of the way.

Inuyasha jumped up and clawed at Merrick.

Merrick cried out in pain as he wobbled to his feet.

Inuyasha took this time to swing Merrick from his long hair and then toss him to the ground.

Merrick's vision became hazy. He had heard rumors about Inuyasha's strength and endurance, but he had no idea Inuyasha was this strong. Merrick didn't even have time to fight back or even block some of the attacks Inuyasha was lashing out

Merrick felt a very heavy foot smashing his stomach and his face.

_"There is still one way I could win this," _Merrick thought with a chuckle, _"The people wont care if I almost lost in the long run."_

Inuyasha picked Merrick up and was about to slam him into the ground when Merrick seemed to be suffering from convulsions. Large, sharp teeth emerged from Merrick's mouth. Then Merrick bit into Inuyasha soft flesh.

Green frothy liquid poured out of Merrick mouth and onto Inuyasha's arm and into Inuyasha's wound. 

Inuyasha seemed paralyzed for a moment. He dropped Merrick and he fell to the ground.

Sango, Mariko, and Kagome had just reached Miroku, Shippo, and Khali.

Kagome looked away, tears flooded her eyes. She quieted herself and turned back around. 

"There has to be something we can do?" Kagome cried. This was always her worst fear, Inuyasha dying in battle.

"Do you know what is happening to you at this very moment Inuyasha? You've been poisoned. You'll die a slow and very painful death. Your body temperature will increase rapidly and your organs will melt. You might even catch on fire. You'll be so hot that smoke will be coming out of every hole in your body; eyes, ears, mouth and nose." Merrick chuckled as he gave Inuyasha a good kick in the stomach.

Inuyasha groaned and got up.

_"He'll kill himself." _Miroku thought morosely, _"It's time."_

Miroku turned around to face Kagome, "Kagome, there is a good chance Inuyasha can still live, but you must get him back to Kaede. Here are all my herbs that I have with me. Merrick could not find where I hid it because it was hidden in my staff, take them."

"But…" Kagome faltered and then her eyes glanced over to Inuyasha and she shut up.

"Shippo, you've always liked my staff, it is yours to have," Miroku said as he turned to face Sango whose eyes had grown wide, "Sango, my time is up."

" What are you talking about, you still have time, and we haven't fought Naraku yet!" Sango's eyes filled with water.

"My time has come before I had the chance, I'm sorry, but if I must go, I want to take Merrick and his demon friends with me." Miroku said looking deeply into Sango's watery eyes. Then he turned to leave.

Sango grabbed his arm, "Miroku wait!" 

Miroku turned around to find tears staining her delicate cheeks and her chest heaved up and down as she tried to stop herself from sobbing out loud.

"Making sure that Merrick never becomes strong enough to change the future is the most important thing Sango, I have to." Miroku said softly as he leaned in to kiss Sango. 

There was no groping, no hands going for butts, just a nice first kiss shared by two people who were in love with each other. 

Sango was surprised to find that her knees felt like jelly, and she had butterflies in her stomach. Miroku's lips were as sweet as honey and as soft as a silk. His breath was cool and minty. She had almost forgotten that he was about to walk out of her life forever…**almost**.

"Never forget that I really did love you Sango. Too bad we'll never know, huh? I want you to have my prayer beads." Miroku said as he handed her the beads and then turned to leave.

"I love you too." Sango called after him, it was so faint he barely heard it.

Houshi entered the ring and grabbed for Inuyasha, "Get out now! Get as far away as you can, this is not the time to play tough guy!" 

He helped Inuyasha out of the ring and he took a fighting stance.

"Do you hear that everyone? A human thinks he can fear better with me than a demon!" Merrick voice rang which was followed by an earsplitting laughter.

" All I ask is that you let my friends go." Miroku said calmly.

"Why, you'll lose anyway." Merrick spat.

"Even if you allow them to leave, if I lose they'll still be in a close vicinity to catch them. I thought you liked the chase, the hunt?" Miroku inquired. There were murmurs in the crowd that made Merrick uneasy.

"Fine, they may go." Merrick said waving for them to go.

Inuyasha, Kagome, Khali, and Shippo ran down the corridor towards the front door. Kagome realized that Sango was missing.

"I'll be back, I need to get Sango," Kagome cried.

The pain was escalating in Miroku's hand; he would die soon, taking everyone in this room with him. All he had to do was stall long enough. Miroku's breathing became shallow, and he began to sweat. 

_"I'm glad I made my peace with Sango though," _he thought with a smile.

It was time now. Everything in the room began to go into his hand Kagome had just reached Sango who was holding onto a doorframe. 

"Sango we have to go now, or we'll be sucked in." Kagome cried.

"Not yet," Sango called.

"Now, we'll be killed if we don't." Kagome's voice somehow made it to Miroku's ears. His head turned towards Sango and before he was sucked up he smiled at them.

"Sango the air rip will suck in the whole house and the yard, we gotta go now!" Kagome yelled as she grabbed her friend and ran down the hall.

The suction increased as they ran. 

They were out of the house, and running toward the gate towards Inuyasha, Shippo, and Khali.

Almost there, almost there. The suction increased.

"We can make it, just push forward." Kagome called. 

They had just passed the gate when the heard a loud sucking sound. When they turned around to look at the estate, there was a large crater of dirt. The gate around the estate was mangled, but intact.

Sango couldn't hold it in anymore, she had to breakdown; she needed to break down. 

Kagome picked herself off of the ground, " We can mourn for Miroku later, we need to get to Kaede and be treated for our wounds. We are all badly wounded, and Inuyasha could die very soon. We need to go."

Kagome picked up her weeping friend, "Come on hunny, he risked his life to save us, he wants us to continue the mission. We owe it to him. That smile on his face before he entered the air rip was to let us know that would be all right, and that he knew what he was doing. Sweetie, I miss him too, but his death cannot be in vain."

Two days later, Kagome, Sango, Khali, Shippo, and Mariko were at the well.

"Next time, you leave something at school, I'll just wait till the next school day. Don't worry about your secret, I won't say anything." Mariko replied to Kagome.

"I know." was all Kagome could utter. Everyone's eyes were red and puffy from crying. Although they didn't have Miroku's body, that didn't stop them giving him a proper priest funeral.

"Will Inuyasha be all right?" Khali asked.

"Yeah, but he needs to stay off of his feet for a while. It' s killing him already." Kagome tried to laugh.

"Well I'm heading to back to the mountains." Khali called.

"Won't we see you again?" Shippo asked. He had grown attached to her in the time they had spent together.

"Yes, but you'll have to wait a whole 'nother year. It's not time yet." Khali replied as she hugged everyone and left.

Mariko and Kagome hugged everyone before they jumped into the well.

"I'll be back as soon as I drop as I drop off Mariko to her house and restock on supplies." Kagome said more to Sango than to Shippo.

With that they jumped into the well.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed my first fanfic as much as I enjoyed writing it. Remember reviews don't hurt either. I enjoyed writing this so much that I've decided to write another Inuyasha fanfic, but it may be a while because I also want to write 2 or three others from different shows. My next Inuyasha fanfic won't have any of the main characters die because I could barely make my fingers press down on the keyboard to write this. Happy Holidays!

Love always, 

-Chocolatedragon15


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